The murder of 26-year-old Shraddha Walkar shook the nation's conscience, with everyone struggling to comprehend how a crime so gruesome was committed and went unnoticed in the national capital for over six months. Shraddha was murdered by her live-in partner Aftab Poonawala in May this year.
Instagram influencer Aarush Gupta, however, has used this crime to draw inspiration for a reel on the murder. In the video, Aarush is seen role-playing as Shraddha and Aftab and enacting what could have happened between the couple. The video ends in a disturbing manner. Netizens are lashing out at the video, which many termed as insensitive and “sick content”.
Aarush's video started trending after it was shared by a Twitter user who added a trigger warning to the post. "Shraddha Walkar case is now influencer reel topic. Trigger warning: Violence, murder, abuse," Twitter user Nirwa Mehta wrote in the caption of the video.
Shraddha murder case is now influencer reel topic.
— Nirwa Mehta (@nirwamehta) November 18, 2022
Trigger warning: Violence, murder, abuse. pic.twitter.com/SlUiPgDQQb
Aarush, however, seems to have planned this as an awareness video. At the end of the video, he added 'Justice for Shraddha' hashtag along with a note about how another Shraddha might be getting tortured at the hands of another Aftab while people watch this video.
A section of social media users do not agree with Aarush's 'awareness video' and have called out the insensitive portrayal of the crime. "Awareness can be done without enacting this," a user wrote. Some others have come out in support of the creator.
absolute SICK !!!
— Bruiser (@_snide) November 18, 2022
I don't find anything wrong in this video, it's more like a awareness video.
— v🪐 (@chilllmaar) November 18, 2022